At around 5 p.m., Kiichi Moriya, 31, opened the fire extinguisher inside the vehicle and sprayed the 22-year-old male taxi driver on Meiji-dori. He then allegedly shoved the driver out of the driver’s seat before speeding away with the vehicle.

With the driver clinging to the vehicle, the suspect crashed the cab into a median after about 20 meters. The driver suffered slight injuries to his head and an elbow in the incident.

Moriya, who has been accused of robbery, denies the allegations. “I got drunk at a barbecue party,” the suspect was quoted by the Arakawa Police Station. “I don’t remember [the incident] clearly.”

When he hailed the cab about one kilometer away from the crime scene, Moriya was drunk, police said. He then got into an argument with the driver before pulling the fire extinguisher out from where it was installed inside the cab.